Moon express to launch first private mission to Moon

11 January, 2017

Moon Express Inc. is a Florida-based private spaceflight company emerged in 2010. The firm is all set to launch the first ever private Lunar Mission. It will be the debut grant for any commercial business to travel space leaving earth's orbit.

Gone the time when only governments of the countries had resources to trip space. Moon Ex recently threw a claim to conduct a private moon landing. The firm has strong aspirations to break the boundaries.

This proclamation marks the growing knacks of private commercial space companies. Present time has introduced some instigating firms like SpoaceX and Virgin Galactic that are all set to explore the space. These firms commit to present the world with cheaper propellers to space. But Moon Ex is the only firm to get the official consent from the United States government.

The authority that licensed the mission is Federal Aviation Administration. The body supervises all the space missions except for NASA and Pentagon. Moon Ex dialogued with above three bodies along with the White House and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. It took three months to be rewarding, and the firm got the clearance on July the 20th.

Moon Ex vowed to abide by all the space regulations as per the international laws. Also, it undertook that it would not disturb any historical spots. It will keep away from the area where Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin made their marks in Apollo 11 mission, 1969. It also would not obstruct any ongoing space operation.

Moon Ex will direct a robotic lander to the moon to fix some scientific instruments helping researchers to unravel the space. The lander targets to embed some retroreflectors at the moon to reflect a part of light back to the earth. This kind of reflectors already helped us to perceive concepts of relativity and quantum mechanics. Moon Ex co-founder Bob Richards assumes that this can even aid future milestone discoveries.

Google also launched a Lunar XPrize competition offering a bounty of $20 million. To clinch the bounty a private firm must land on the moon, take off and again land at a distance of 1500 feet away from the initial point. Also, the company must send HD video and image proofs. Moon Ex is eyeing this bounty too.

Richards says- "Just a few years and the process that led to MoonEx's approval could be a one-stop shop for businesses that inclined to visit the moon. You'll walk up to an office to say -I would like to go to the moon or an asteroid, please. The clerk would say- No problem. Fill out this form.

As of now, there is no form and no single authority in the Federal Government authorised to make such a decision."

When the process gets diluted, Moon Ex aims to top the field. It has high ambitions to earn revenue by lunar cargo launches. It also intends to mine the moon for water and other resources.

Richards plans to turn the resources into fuel that can help other explorers in granting humanity even cheaper access to other parts of space.

He says- "Water is the oil of the solar system. It's a complete game-changer for the economics because it makes the moon a gas station in the sky."